Prayer as Formation - Pt. 1

Opening Prayer

Let’s open with prayer. Trying something different today. If you have a prayer concern, just offer it up out loud in this space. It can be a situation, a need, a family member or friend. When I sense we are finished I will close out our prayer.

Katie and Hunter Norris

The Gamble family

O Lord, help us to have constant love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and guide those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your love and kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Sermon

We are doing part 2 of a series we began last summer on the Sermon on the Mount called The Jesus Manifesto. A manifesto is a public declaration of belief, policy, and motives. A manifesto outlines what a person or group believes and the kinds of things they will practice. In this respect, the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ manifesto. It provides the definitive guide for what he meant when he said, “Come, follow me.”

In part 2 of the series we are looking at the kinds of kingdom practices that will help form us to be mature and thriving disciples of Jesus. One of the things we’re trying to stress is that Spiritual practices are not a means to get you into heaven but to get heaven into you. Today’s message is part 1 of 2 on prayer.

There’s all kind of ways to pray in the Bible, and all of them are valid. At times we are to make supplication for those in need. At times we petition God for an urgent need. Sometimes we are called to intercede on behalf of others. We are to offer thanksgiving. And through prayer, we are even to battle again the forces of darkness. These are all ways we are called upon to pray at times. But I want to speak about a way of praying that I think has been all but lost in the evangelical church. It is praying for formation. Praying prayers that help shape us to have more of the mind of Christ that has direct results in growing our maturity. Historically, the church has referred to this kind of prayer as “lex orandi, lex credendi” - the rule of prayer is the rule of faith. It means that what is prayed becomes what is believed.

Do you ever think about your prayers? Many of us have probably been told the definition of prayer is “just talking with God.” That’s certainly true. But have you ever thought about what you’re saying? And have you ever thought seriously about how what you say in prayer can be forming you either in ways that are consistent with God’s kingdom or inconsistent? Let me put it out there, and I’ll unpack it shortly. Selfish people tend to pray selfish prayers. Greedy people tend to pray greedy prayers. Worried people tend to pray fearful prayers. And so I want to suggest this morning that the main purpose of prayer is not to try and get God to do what you think God ought to do. Rather, the purpose of prayer is to form us to the mind of Christ.

Would you like to grow in your ability to think God’s thoughts after him, and to know his heart more for people and situations? I want to suggest this morning that one of the ways we do this is by becoming more intentional in our prayers. I don’t mean only having an intentional time or place to pray, but even to be intentional in how and what we pray. Here’s the big idea this morning: Your prayer life has the power to either conform you to the world, or to transform you with the mind of Christ. And this begins with learning from Jesus how to pray better.

The problem then

Jesus offers two critiques on prayer. The first is directed to those he calls “hypocrites”. Most likely he is referring to Pharisees and scribes who made a habit out of just “happening to be” in very public places when the hour of prayer came. They wanted others to see them, and to draw their praise.

The second critique is on those Jesus calls Gentiles. Here he is referring to pagan prayer that sought to control the deity. It was believed that if one prayed long enough, loud enough, invoked enough of the right names and phrases, they could manipulate their god to do what they wanted it to do.

Both groups reveal the same basic problem. For them, prayer had a selfish and self-serving aim. Either they wanted the crowd to notice, or they wanted the god to notice, but no matter how it is sliced, the end is personal satisfaction of the self. They, and not God, were the focus of their prayers.

The big question in my mind is, what kind of people were they becoming by praying that way? Were they being conformed to the world, or transformed to Christ?

The problem now

Do we ever pray like this? Do our prayers ever take on a selfish, self-serving bent? Of course. Left to our own devices, we can be very selfish pray-ers.

It is easy to slip into this. James warns us of this in his letter. “You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.” (James 4:2–3, NRSV)

Again, selfish people pray selfish prayers. Worried people pray fearful prayers. Our prayers, if not directed by something other than our own heart, will often take on a pattern that forms us away from Christ instead of toward him. I do not mean that we shouldn’t pray our heart to God - we should. There should certainly be times when our prayers are raw and honest. But our prayers also need intentional direction so that they do not conform us to the world but transform us with the mind of Christ.

Otherwise, what kind of people are we becoming if we only pray in selfish or demanding ways?

The gospel then

The purpose of prayer is not primarily to get God to do what we think God ought to do - as if we can manipulate him. And it is not to inform God of our particular needs - for Jesus says plainly that he already knows our needs before we ask him. The purpose of prayer - not the only purpose, but I have come to believe the first purpose of prayer - is to form us to be more like Jesus.

And so the remedy that Jesus offers for prayers that conform is prayers that transform. This is what the Lord’s prayer is - which we’ll look at next week. It is a structure to guide our prayers so that we pray in ways that align us with the kingdom of God and get His kingdom into us.

Did you know that Jesus prayed in ways that formed him? He was God! But he was also human, and he prayed in ways that shaped his human nature. As a Jew, three times a day Jesus would have prayed the Amidah, a series of prayers and blessings, which include the Shema. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. (Deuteronomy 6:4–5, NRSV)” From Jewish school Jesus would have learned the psalms by heart - all 150 of them - and would have prayed them in a repetitive way. Jesus would have also punctuated his day with prayer canticles. These are prayers recorded in others parts of the Bible outside the Psalms, especially in Isaiah. The point is that Jesus prayed in ways that transformed instead of conformed. Primarily this was by praying the Scriptures.

The gospel now

Your prayer life has the power to either conform you to the world, or to transform you with the mind of Christ. Through intentionally praying Scripture you can have a prayer life that grows your faith, aligns your heart and will to God’s, and makes your prayers more biblical.

Prayer that transforms:

Allows us to have the mind of Christ and to think God’s thoughts after him. You can begin to get more of a sense of God’s heart for a situation or a person. Wouldn’t that go a long way in helping us to be more wise, discerning, and loving?

Places us in a posture to receive rather that to demand. It lets us release our hold on what we think we need or what we think God ought to do, so that we may receive the blessing God has already decreed for us. How often do our demanding prayers blind us to the blessings God has already given?

Grows our faith by shaping our prayers around the character of God. As we pray the Scripture back to God, our soul learns who he is and why he is trustworthy of our heart. He is a good Father, and the more I pray Scripture, the more I find myself falling deeper in love with him.

Give us a prayer language when our hearts are weighed down with grief. Praying in tongues is a great blessing for times like these, but not everyone prays in tongues. But everyone can pray the way Jesus prayed. When I suspected I had a child that was experimenting with drugs, the fear and grief were overwhelming. I couldn’t even muster the energy to pray in tongues. But I could pray the Scriptural prayers that I had memorized because I prayed them on a regular basis. There my heart found peace and comfort.

If you haven’t caught on, I believe the Jesus way of prayer - prayer formed around the word of God - is the most important formational practice the church needs today. All around us Christian brothers and sisters are falling, having failed to attain a character that is in keeping with their calling. Jesus does not want you to become another statistic of weak, ineffective Christianity. And so he has modeled for you and passed on to you this great heritage of formational prayer. Scriptural prayers are the Spirit’s gift to the Church so that we can have some words when we do not know how to pray, and better words when we think we already do.

How are your prayers forming you? Will you continue to pray in ways that conform, or will you commit today to learn to pray in ways that transform. As my wife likes to say, now you get to decide in your decider what you’ll do. Suggestion: commit to praying the Lord’s Prayer 2-3 times a day, very slowly and intentionally, thinking about who you are praying to and what you are praying.

This kind of prayer can be compared to training roses up a trellis. The trellis provides structure for the plant to grow. It doesn’t inhibit the development of blooms, it magnifies it. So begin to train your prayers around the Scriptures, and watch your maturity begin to grow.

Communion

Every week we are formed, whether we realize it or not, as we come to the table of the Lord. Here we re-present the saving act of God through his Son Jesus Christ as we remember his atoning death and victorious resurrection. Here we eat a meal of fellowship with him and with one another. Here we renew our commitment to him as we eat the spiritual food of his body and blood. In a moment I’ll invite you to come and be formed again around this practice.

Let’s being by praying as Jesus taught us.

The Lords Prayer

Words of Institution